Approximately 6,000 birds rescued from Plattekill farm as part of cock-fighting investigation (videos)

Members of local fire departments assist ASPCA investigators load up crates of roosters that were confiscated from a location on Plattekillle-Ardonia Road in Plattekill which are linked to a large cock-fighting ring.
Tania Barricklo — Daily Freeman

PLATTEKILL >> As many as 6,000 birds housed in “a ragtag collection of rooster hutches” were being seized Wednesday at a 90-acre farm on Plattekill Ardonia Road by officials from the state attorney general’s office, the ASPCA, the Ulster County SPCA and Ulster County Sheriff’s Department, Ulster SPCA executive director Adam Saunders said at the scene of the rescue Wednesday.

Tim Rickey, vice president of the ASPCA Field Investigations and Response Team, said Wednesday the rescue culminates what may be the largest cock-fighting arrest in American history and “one of the largest -- if not the largest -- in U.S. history. ... For the ASPCA, it’s the largest operation of this type we’ve been involved in.”

There were nearly 100 ASPCA workers on hand in Plattekill on Wednesday along with another 100 or so at the undisclosed shelter location, he said. The rescue operation and evidence collection was expected to continue until early next week, according to Emily Schneider of the ASPCA, who said the impending Thursday snowstorm was expected to delay operations to some extent.

“Our primary goal was to immediately remove these birds from a cycle of violence and suffering,” said Stacy Wolf, senior vice president of the ASPCA’s Anti-Cruelty Group. “We’re proud to lend our expertise in partnership with the New York State Attorney General’s Office and to work alongside law enforcement agencies to help put an end to this heinous and senseless crime.”

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Nicknamed Operation Angry Birds, the investigation targeted locations in Ulster, Queens and Kings counties and resulted in nine felony arrests, as well as the seizure of thousands of birds and cockfighting-related contraband, according to the attorney general’s office.

The first Ulster County part of the operation took place Sunday morning. Members of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s Organized Crime Task Force, with the help of the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, state police and other local law enforcement, raided the farm at 230 Plattekill Ardonia Road.

Farm manager Manuel Cruz, 60, and Jesus Cruz, 37, a farmhand, were arrested and arraigned Sunday, according to a release from Schneiderman’s office.

The farm had operated for years under the guise of a live poultry farm, and its owners hid thousands of makeshift cages within the center of the property to avoid detection by neighbors and law enforcement, according to a news release.

Roosters and chickens on the property were found to be boarded in deplorable conditions, according to Rickey. “Our goal is to get these animals off of this property and to emergency shelter locations,” he said Wednesday, adding that the animals would receive the medical attention and care they need. “Right now, they are being removed as evidence in a much larger criminal investigation,” Rickey said.

The Roosters would be removed to an “undisclosed location because they are evidence,” he said.

Ulster County SPCA officials and volunteers were on hand to remove other species found on the property, including four German Shepard dogs, two Jack Russell Terriers, four cats, rabbits and other fowl, Saunders said. He speculated the cats were kept for rodent control, the dogs were used to protect the birds from coyote or fox and the rabbits and other fowl were kept for food and egg production.

Two of the German Shepard dogs were tied up on the property and the others were roaming free, he said.

The animals all suffered from “varying degrees of neglect” and the dogs had small lacerations they may have received “while chasing down birds for food.” Saunders said the animals will receive medical attention at the SPCA.

The roosters were bred, trained, plied with performance-enhancing drugs, had razor-sharp gaffs attached in place of their natural spurs and were locked in a small pen to be wagered upon, according to a news release from the Attorney General.

Cockfighting is a crime in all 50 states. In New York, cockfighting and possession of a fighting bird at a cockfighting location are felonies, and each charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in jail and a fine of $25,000, the attorney general’s office said. It added that paying to attend one of these events is a misdemeanor and carries a possible sentence of up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.